Half-way to 90!

Yes, I feel old. Ian baked me this delicious chocolate cake and kindly reduced the number of candles by a few. ;)

Ian's 16th Birthday and Subsequent Celebrations

Happy Birthday to Ian!

His real birthday was February 15th, and he got a homemade chocolate cake. And apparently if you are eating fancy chocolate cake, it calls for a new hairdo. No, Ian is not driving yet. He has to put it 6 hours or so studying this booklet prior to even applying for a learner's permit. He also hasn't been overly anxious to start driving, but we will get him going on it soon enough.

For his official celebration, he asked to attend a book signing event in San Antonio. Brandon Sanderson is one of Ian's favorite authors, and he is currently on a tour promoting Calamity. He was scheduled to be in San Antonio the evening of February 26th. Since Del Rio has no bookstore (GASP! I know, can you believe it???), and we are a family of readers, how could we not grant his request? Also, Kevin does not teach any classes on Fridays, so he was free to come with us.

We arrived around lunchtime, went to Barnes and Noble to purchase some books and get a ticket for the signing line, stopped at the Scout Store to get Ian a new shirt since he keeps growing on us, and then experienced a real Texan BBQ at the Barbecue Station. Dallin ate bread and chips. The rest of us ate BBQ chicken, turkey, brisket, pork, beans, and potato salad along with our bread.

Following lunch, we stopped at the historic Alamo. Remember that from history classes?

We still had an hour to kill before going to the book signing, so we drove south a few miles and took a walk along the famous River Walk. We walked from a park to the Concepcion Mission, but due to the trailside map not being to scale, we misjudged distance (what appeared to be about .5 miles was actually 1.5 miles) and didn't have enough time to actually go inside that mission.

Our starting point along the River Walk--
it actually goes for many miles and is popular with bikers and joggers.

Ian holding the Tower of the Americas,
which is an attraction for another visit

The San Antonio River

Cormorants

We look forward to visiting this on another trip.

We found our way back to Barnes and Noble without getting lost and made it on time. Brandon began with a short talk, a Q & A session, then read a chapter from the not-yet-released third book in his Stormlight Archive. 

Then they called up patrons by ticket letters--Ian had letter "E" so we amused ourselves by looking at the Art of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and wondered why Megan had not yet requested it for one of her birthday presents. Erin and Dallin hung out in the children's section the entire time and had a blast reading whatever they wanted. It was better than our small library in Del Rio.

Brandon took time with each fan, answering more questions, joking around, and personalizing messages in their books. We were surprised by the diversity of people who came to the event--all ages from elementary school kids to older adults.

We finished by 9:30 and had a quiet 3-hour return drive arriving home at 12:30 AM.

43 Years Young

Megan's Culinary Skills Manifested in Chocolate Cake Form

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

Eight is Great!

Erin's 8th birthday was today!!! She was so excited and had been counting down the days for the past two weeks. She opened her presents before church.

For some reason, she got a lot of presents relating to owls: owl DVD, owl necklace, owl pillowcase, owl cross-stitch pattern, and owl stickers among a few other non-owl-related items.

After church, she played with some of her new things, then we made a big batch of homemade pizza (but forgot to take photos), and ate her owl cake. Mom modified it from this design. We thought it turned out pretty cute!

 

We're taking a trip in a couple of days to the San Diego Zoo to celebrate the rest of Erin's birthday.

D-boy is Four!

Dallin turned FOUR YEARS OLD this morning!

Look at what a handsome boy he has grown into.

He LOVES the color red, just in case everyone is not aware of this fact.

Dallin waited patiently (well, as patiently as a 4-year-old can wait) 

while we held our homeschool co-op lessons (since it was a Wednesday), 

and then everyone gathered for presents and birthday brownies.

Dallin chose pizza for lunch.

He wanted a cake "with one red light saber and one green light saber."

So, that is what he got.

He managed to blow out the 4 squiggly candles.

Stay tuned for Part II of his b-day celebrations when we get to go to Legoland!!!

15 Trips Around the Sun (or Half-way to Age 30)

Today was Megan's birthday! 

She started it off with early-morning Seminary class where her teacher gave her a mini cake.

Then she opened presents before Dad had to go to work.

The BIG surprise for her was the item in the yellow envelope: 

A ticket to the Broadway Musical Wicked! 

She'll be going to see it in Tempe, AZ, this weekend with some friends in the ward.

She chose Roundtable Pizza for dinner...

...followed by a chocolate cake and ice cream for dessert.

She designed her own cake decor from the Lion King Broadway Musical Logo.

(We'll eventually get around to posting about our trip last November to see that one...)

Happy Birthday, Megan!!!

IAN IS 12 YEARS OLD!!!

Ian started off his special day opening presents before Dad left for work

so that he could "play" with them during the day.

Dallin was a good helper.

Modeling part of his new suit--Ian will be ordained
to the Aaronic Priesthood in our Church on Sunday.

 Each year Ian has a new hobby interest--this year's is wood carving.

Thus, he received woodworking gifts.

Megan generously gave him a Kindle!

This is the one she won from the Yuma Library drawing 

as part of NaNoWrMo last November.

Grandpa treated Ian to Roundtable Pizza for lunch!

It's the best pizza in Yuma (in our limited experience here).

  Then we went to AWC for a piano studio class.

We showed Grandpa the Science Building where Dad works.

And we picked up a new pet on the way home!

Megan found this cutie on Craig's list.

Her name is still under debate.

Mom made Ian his favorite deluxe chocolaty chocolate cake.

We were still full from our pizza lunch, so we just ate cake and ice cream for dinner.
Aunt Janell would approve of that kind of logic, and she's a lawyer.

Then Ian headed off to scouts, Megan and her parents went to New Beginnings,

and Grandpa spent quality time with Erin, Dallin, and the new kitty.

All in all, it was a great day for everyone!